Replies

1. 
   dwright | Nov 05, 2004 03:48pm | #1

   I don’t know where the story was last time you heard.  Below are some recent highlights.  I picked up this info at IWF and in e-mails with SawStop checking on the status of my saw.

    

   --  Beta saws in shops since early this year.

   --  Actual production saws from a short first run were shown @ IWF 2004.  SawStop understands that the brake alone won’t sell the saw.  The one I saw at IWF had important design improvements over the Unisaw/PM66 crowd, and appeared to be well built.

   --  A small number of the cabinet saws have gone to reviewers and people who preordered minutes after the list was started.  Wood magazine has one but won’t publish a review for several months.  FWW has one; I hope to see a review soon.

   --  The backorder list is about 750 saws long.  One of those preorders is for a saw plus 10 brake cartridges to be delivered to an individual who happens to have the same address as Delta's USA factory.  Interesting.  Manufacturing is ramping up slowly, in part because of SawStop's QC efforts at the plant and in Oregon before shipping each one out.  The pace will pick up, but I wouldn't expect current orders to be cleared out before we're well into 2005.  My preorder went in hours (not minutes) after the list was started.  Mine is probably in the Pacific as I write this.  I hope to have it sometime in December.

   --  Note that preordering the saw doesn't require payment.  SawStop won't need payment until they are ready to send you the saw.  Did you note the mention in the current FWW about steel prices forcing heavy machine prices to rise?  That has affected SawStop as well.  The original preorder price of $2199 had to go up to $2499.

   --  SawStop was nice enough to send a draft of the Owner’s Manual.  It was well written, clearly illustrated, and alerted me to more features of the saw.  They’ve worked hard to make it a saw that people would choose over the Unisaw or PM66 regardless of the blade brake feature.

   --  The above notes are for the cabinet saw.  The contractor saw is further behind.  They showed engineering samples at IWF.  No production versions yet.

    

   That’s a quick tour.  Let me know if there are specific questions.

    

   Regards,

    

   Dave

1. 
   joinery45 | Nov 05, 2004 07:46pm | #2

   Dave,

   Thanks for the information. I've pre-ordered the contractors version. I've been in this business for thirty years, have all my fingers, and I have seen some horrific accidents with those little bench saws. Most of them( say 3 out of 4) were just plane stupid stunts on part of the operator. The scariest happened when a man was ripping old DF and a flaw caused the wood to shatter and sent his hand into the blade. It was a bloody mess.

   I always keep on the job site a traumatic amputation kit with large sterile pads instant cold packs ( not instant ice packs) and sterile plastic bags, gloves and Saline.

   THanks

   John